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Lot Essay
This teapot relates to a small group of Chinese-made silver which was imported into England in the late 17th century. An identical teapot, now in the Museum of The American China Trade, was struck with London hallmarks for 1682, in compliance with the official English requirement that foreign silver should be marked at Goldsmiths' Hall before it could be sold in England. Most of the pieces in this group, however, are unmarked, as in the case of the present example. The matching Chinese export teapot was sold in these Rooms, April 18, 1989, lot 589. (See also H.A. Crosby Forbes, John Devereux Kernan, and Ruth S. Wilkins, Chinese Export Silver, 1975, pp. 51-54.) Both teapots are of exceptionally heavy cast construction and have a silver content well above the English sterling standard (the alloy of each is over 94 silver).
Chinese silver in this style influenced the design of English silver in the late 17th century, most notably a cast snuffbox at the Victoria and Albert Museum and a group of pieces with chased panels by David Willaume (a chafing dish of 1698, illustrated in Vanessa Brett, The Sotheby's Directory of Silver,, 1986, fig. 127, and a set of three bowls, illustrated in Philippa Glanville, Silver in England, 1987, fig. 93). In the Regency period, the design of the present teapot was the prototype for a group of tea wares of similar hexagonal form, all made in London between 1818 and 1825. A teapot by Storr & Mortimer is an almost exact replica of the present model (Brett, op. cit., fig. 1273). The fact that the present teapot has remained together with a silver-gilt cream-jug by John Terrey of 1821 (offered here as lot 291) suggests that its ivory insulators and gilding were added at that time. (When the two were sold together in 1970, the present teapot was assumed to be English, circa 1821; see Sotheby's, London, December 22, 1970, lot 95.) Another teapot of this design by Terrey of 1821 was sold at Sotheby's, New York, April 12, 1994, lot 216.
Chinese silver in this style influenced the design of English silver in the late 17th century, most notably a cast snuffbox at the Victoria and Albert Museum and a group of pieces with chased panels by David Willaume (a chafing dish of 1698, illustrated in Vanessa Brett, The Sotheby's Directory of Silver,, 1986, fig. 127, and a set of three bowls, illustrated in Philippa Glanville, Silver in England, 1987, fig. 93). In the Regency period, the design of the present teapot was the prototype for a group of tea wares of similar hexagonal form, all made in London between 1818 and 1825. A teapot by Storr & Mortimer is an almost exact replica of the present model (Brett, op. cit., fig. 1273). The fact that the present teapot has remained together with a silver-gilt cream-jug by John Terrey of 1821 (offered here as lot 291) suggests that its ivory insulators and gilding were added at that time. (When the two were sold together in 1970, the present teapot was assumed to be English, circa 1821; see Sotheby's, London, December 22, 1970, lot 95.) Another teapot of this design by Terrey of 1821 was sold at Sotheby's, New York, April 12, 1994, lot 216.